Scientific American Supplement, No. 443, June 28, 1884 eBook

is at one of the landing stages, the platform is lowered
to the level of the rails on the pier, and the carriages
and trucks are run on to the deck by means of the
small hauling engine, which works an endless chain
running the whole length of the deck. The trucks,
etc., being on board, the platform is raised
by means of two compact hand winches worked by worm
and worm-wheels in the positions shown; thus these
two platforms form the end bulwarks to the boat when
crossing the bay. On arriving at the opposite
shore the operation is repeated, the other platform
is lowered, and the hauling engine runs the trucks,
etc., on to the shore. With a load of 25
tons the draught is 4 ft.

The seats shown on the deck are for the convenience
of foot passengers, and the whole of the deck is protected
from the sun of that tropical climate by a canvas
awning. The steering of the vessel is effected
from the bridge at the center, which extends from side
to side of the vessel, and there are two steering
wheels with independent steering gear for each end,
with locking gear for the forward rudder when in motion.
The man at the wheel communicates with the engineer
by means of a speaking tube at the wheel. There
is a small deck house for the use of deck stores,
on one side of which is the entrance to the engine
room. The cross battens, shown between the rails,
are for the purpose of horse traffic, when horses
are used for hauling the trucks, or for ordinary carts
or wagons. The plan below deck shows the arrangement
of the bulkheads, with a small windlass at each end
for lifting the anchors, and a small hatch at each
side for entrance to these compartments. The
central compartment contains the machinery, which
consists of a pair of compound surface condensing engines,
with cylinders 11 in. and 20 in. in diameter; the
shafting running the whole length of the vessel, with
a propeller at each end. Steam is generated in
a steel boiler of locomotive form, so arranged that
the funnel passes through the deck at the side of
the vessel; and it is designed for a working pressure
of 100 lb. per square inch. This boiler also
supplies steam for the small hauling engine fixed on
the bulkhead. Light to this compartment is obtained
by means of large side scuttles along each side of
the boat and glass deck lights, and the iron grating
at the entrance near the deck house. This boat
was constructed in six pieces for shipment, and the
whole put together in the builders’ yard.
The machinery was fixed, and the engine driven by
steam from its own boiler, then the whole was marked
and taken asunder, and shipped to the West Indies,
where it was put together and found to answer the
purpose intended.—­Engineering.

* * * *
*

[For THE SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN.]

THE PROBLEM OF FLIGHT, AND THE FLYING MACHINE.

As a result of reading the various communications
to the SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN and SUPPLEMENT, and Van
Nostrand’s Engineering Magazine, including
descriptions of proposed and tested machines, and the
reports of the British Aeronautical Society, the writer
of the following concludes: